REEDSPORT — The campaign for City Council will feature two contested races on Nov. 4.

Ginger Anderson and Allen Teitzel will vie for the Position 1 seat. Councilor Bill Walker will face challenger Aeron Blackman for the Position 2 seat.

The filing date for the November election passed on Aug. 21. The mayor’s position and City Council positions 1, 2 and 3 were up for election this fall. The office of mayor is a 2-year term, expiring December 2010. The city council positions are all 4-year terms, expiring December 2012.

Position 1

“I’m running primarily to bring a positive approach to local government,” Anderson said.

Anderson, who has lived in Reedsport since 1977, said the challenges facing smaller communities are better met with leadership working together. She wants to bring that spirit to the Reedsport council.

This wouldn’t be the first time Anderson, 60, has served the city. She was a city councilor from 1987 to 1994. She also is on other boards and committees, including the Umpqua Discovery Center Steering Committee and the Reedsport Urban Renewal Advisory Committee as chairwoman.

Since her time on the council, smaller communities have suffered, Anderson said, and she is prepared to make tougher decisions if elected this time around.

“This isn’t going to be as fun as the last time when there was more funding and more opportunities,” Anderson said.

Teitzel was unavailable for comment by press time.

Position 2

Walker, 77, wants to see more jobs come into the city. He doesn’t have any particular strategy to make that happen just yet, but he believes building cohesion within the city’s leadership should be a main goal for the next four years. Hiring a new city manager should be the first part of that goal.

“We hope to accomplish a match for city manager,” Walker said.

Former city manager Rick Hohnbaum resigned effective Aug. 15. The city hired former Reedsport Police Chief John Smart as interim city manager until Dec. 15. Walker said he is pleased with the city’s choice of Smart for the temporary position, but he hopes to have a qualified candidate before Smart’s six months are up. The city’s budget may present the biggest challenge to accomplishing that goal.

“Money is tight,” Walker said.

Blackman, 38, said finding a good city manager should be at the top of the list for the council in the next six months. That is not all that is on the 5-year Reedsport resident’s mind. He wants to bring a younger perspective to the council.

“At city hall, it’s mostly older people making 20-year decisions that they may or may not have to live with,” Blackman said.

Along with a Generation X voice, Blackman proposes to inject a more-forward thinking view. Blackman said temporary fixes to persistent problems don’t work and the council should be seeking longer-term solutions.

Bill Otis, 57, is running unopposed for his second term on city council Position 3. Otis agreed that hiring a city manger is a top priority. He also would like to see one long-term fix completed during his second term: the city’s new sewer plant.

“That has to be completed,” Otis said. “We have to get through it.”

Mayor Keith Tymchuk also is running unopposed for re-election. His goals include finishing the sewer plant, finding a new city manager, and instituting a new water plan for the city.

“It’s been a pleasure to work with the city council we have right now,” he said.